PACO, ISSN: 2035-6609 - Copyright © 2020 - University of Salento, SIBA: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it
PArtecipazione e COnflitto
http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco
ISSN: 1972-7623 (print version)
ISSN: 2035-6609 (electronic version)
PACO, Issue 13(2) 2020: 1190-1207
DOI: 10.1285/i20356609v13i2p1190
Published in Xxxxx 00, 20XX
RESEARCH ARTICLE
POLICING THE ‘ANTI-SOCIAL’ TOURIST. Mass tourism and
‘disorderly behaviors’ in Venice, Amsterdam and Barcelona.
Alexander Araya López
Ca’ Foscari, University of Venice
ABSTRACT: In the last years, several cities in Europe and around the world have witnessed the emergence
of social movements critical of mass tourism, underlining a diversity of ‘externalities’ associated to this
highly-complex global industry. The so-defined ‘anti-social’ (i.e. unruly, offensive, inappropriate) behavior
of tourists has been highlighted by both social movements and the local and global media among these
negative effects of tourism, and local authorities have responded with many campaigns and strategies to
regulate the impact of visitors in the lives of locals. By focusing on three European city-cases (namely
Amsterdam, Venice and Barcelona), this paper discusses the current efforts to regulate ‘disruptive behavior’,
while examining the limits of these initiatives and the challenges that these approaches create to the daily
management of public spaces.
KEYWORDS: disorder, mass tourism, media discourses, policing, urban spaces
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: alexander.arayalopez@unive.it.
Work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-
Share alike 3.0 Italian License